Home > Go Green > Archives > 2007 > November
November 2007
Oh the weather outside is frightful #6
Cool weather tip #6 for you.
Run your dishwasher and dryer just before you go to bed. Again, those big pieces of machinery will emit heat for the drying cycles (well a dryer is always drying). Leaving the door open, during the cool part of the night will allow that energy to at least be used in your house.
Often times, I actually run the dishwasher at 8:30 and when I go to bed at 10, I open the dishwasher to allow the heat to disseminate AND let the dishes air dry - a double savings.
Permalink | |
Oh the weather outside is frightful #5
Cool weather tip #5 for you.
Use the blinds. Not Stevie Wonder and Jose Feliciano, the drapes, levelours, whatever you call them.
A great place for you to gain and lose heat is through the windows. At night, make sure they are covered with some sort of drapes- those drapes serve as insulation to keep that night time heat in.
During the day, open those blinds up. Let your house catch the sunlight each day. There is a reason why your cat or dog lounges themselves in the sun. Then, when it starts to get dark, close the blinds and capture all that energy.
This one is a really easy task that can make a lot of difference.
Permalink | |
Oh the eweather outside is frightful #4
Cool weather tip #4 for you.
Leave bathwater in the tub overnight. Admittedly, this one is the most wacky, but it works. A hot bath will usually emit a lot of heat into the air for an average of an hour to 90 minutes. USE THAT HEAT!!!
Leave your bathroom door open after you bathe. Do not drain the water. Let the heat emit itself in the adjoining rooms and hallways. In the morning, drain the tub. this is just another way to use some heat to your advantage that is infrequently used.
The same holds true for showers, but obviously the heat isn’t retained like it is with a bath. After that steaming hot shower, keep the door open!!!
Permalink | |
Oh the weather outside is frightful FACT
For every degree you set your thermostat above 68 degrees, your heating costs increase by 5%.
Permalink | |
Oh the weather outside is frightful #3
Cool weather tip #3 for you.
Overnight, set the temperature (with your previously mentioned programmable thermostat) to 64 degrees overnight. The programmable can turn on at 6am and go up to 72 to make things toasty.
See, when the body is asleep it loses the least amount of energy. And, in the winter we heap on the blankets. You will be warm.
There is no need to run your electricity during the night when you should be the warmest in the dormant state.
Permalink | |
Oh the weather outside is frightful #2
More cold weather tips.
Close your kitchen’s heat duct. The warmest room in the house is always the kitchen. After you cook or bake, leave the oven door cracked to utilize that heat that just dissipates anyway.
Oh the weather outside is frightful1
Finally, the weather is cooling. Here are a few cool weather tips for you that can also help the planet.
Keep unoccupied rooms at 60-degrees. That might sound cold, but hello, they are unoccupied. Just close the vent to the guest room and keep the door closed. That will allow your heater to work smarter and more efficiently.
One tip, do not turn the heat completely off, then you are actually creating a detrament to the house, because heating a frozen room is a lot of energy.
Permalink | |
Carbon Pawrint2
Wow! I am excited that someone actually reads my ramblings. Even better, they might utilize some of these tips!!
I was asked for some of the web sites that I mentioned in the last post.
Here you go:
Organic food: onlynaturalpets.com or treehugger.com
Plastic Bags: scooperbox.com or poopbags.com
Kitty Litter: worldwise.com
Toys: ecoanimal.com
Clothes: sckoon.com
Shampoos: cainandablecollection.com
Permalink | |
Carbon Footprint
Many of you know that my wife and I are “dog people”. We have rescued a few from the humane society and they are fantastic pets.
What are they doing to influence the planet? What is their carbon pawprint?
Yes, I know that sounds silly, but with the quantity of pets in the world, there are things you can do for your pet to make her more green.
You might scoff at these ideas, but by 2012 it is estimated that the environ-pet industry will top 2.5 billion dollars annually.
-Choose nutritious organic pet foods. -Use biodegradable plastic bags for your puppie’s walks -Avoid clay based kitty litter (as much of that comes from damaging strip mining) -Many toys are made from recyclables. -While I would never buy my pups clothes, many pet ensembles can be from recyclables. -Products, like shampoo, come in the bio-green kind and are actually really good for your pets.
Permalink | |
